1 Kingston Hill Place

KINGSTON HILL PLACE: HISTORIC MANSION OF HANDSOME ELEVATION. David A Kennedy, PhD 13 September 2017 ABSTRACT Kingston Hill Place is a grand mansion, built in 1828 by Samuel Baxter of Regent Street, that is the centrepiece of a gated housing estate on Kingston Hill, KT2 7QY. Its first occupant was Robert Lawes Esquire. Thereafter a number of interesting people lived there, including Viscount Pollington and Bonar Law MP. was occupied by a number of interesting people before it became a convalescent home for members of the women’s services during WW2 and thereafter was a campus of Kingston Polytechnic until about 1991. An enigmatic granite obelisk in the grounds possibly may have been a silent memorial to one or more of the deceased members of the family of the first occupant, Robert Lawes Esquire. Research on a local tradition that the estate was used by the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII, for trysts with Lillie Langtry indicted that, if they did take place, they would have occurred between 1874-1879 during the tenancy of Robert Leonard Trollope, a rich, and probably well-connected property developer. INTRODUCTION Kingston Hill Place is a grand late-Georgian mansion that is the centrepiece of a gated housing estate on Kingston Hill, KT2 7QY. This article is based on research carried out for the Kingston Hill Place Residents’ Association and the findings outlined to them in a talk given on 27 May 2015. The first part looks at the origins of Kingston Hill Place. The second part reviews past occupants of the mansion. The third part reviews some research on the obelisk in the grounds. The fourth part is a hypothesis on the reason for the installation of the obelisk. The last part explores the local belief that in the 19th century, at Kingston Hill Place, the famous actress Lillie Langtry had trysts with the Prince of Wales, later to be King Edward VII. 1 ORIGINS Joan Wakeford wrote that the mansion was built between April 1827 and October 1828 by Samuel Baxter, the elder, of Regent Street, London, described by her as “a builder”. She reported that Baxter acquired pieces of land on Kingston Hill, then called “Robin Hood Hill”, obtained from various sources, including a parcel bought for £350 from the turnpike commissioners, which was conveyed to him on 19 April 1827. This land became available when the turnpike was re-routed to the line of the present A308 road between Kingston and Putney Vale. The architect of the mansion was not discovered by Wakeford, who implied that Baxter was bankrupted as a consequence of building Kingston Hill Place. However, Baxter appeared to have been what today would be called “a property developer” rather than just a builder. In collaboration with the famous architect John Nash, between about 1817 and 1823, Baxter contributed over a hundred houses in the development of the Regent Street area, later getting into financial difficulties which culminated in bankruptcy in April 1829, and his death shortly afterwards. Baxter built houses in Upper Grosvenor Street and Park Lane, and for one of these properties he may have been the architect.1 Moreover, an advertisement in the Times of 4 June 1829 for the disposal of Samuel Baxter’s property on behalf of assignees showed that, as well as the estate on Kingston Hill, he owned ten houses, two mansions, two pubs and a factory, all in fashionable parts of London. Thus, Baxter’s insolvency may have been caused by failure of his entire property empire rather than just the costs of building Kingston Hill Place. Moreover, inasmuch as he had considerable experience of building fine houses, Baxter may have been the architect of Kingston Hill Place and possibly he intended to live there himself. The London Gazette gave the official date of Baxter’s bankruptcy as 24 April 1829 and his address as Carmarthen Street, Tottenham Court Road in the County of Middlesex.2 Records of All Saints’ Church, Kingston, showed that Samuel Baxter of Carmarthen Street, Tottenham Court Road, aged 67, was buried on 4 May 1829. This indicated that Baxter probably died in Kingston, perhaps while on business concerned with Kingston Hill Place.3 Thereafter, it 2 was put up for public auction. The advertisement in the Times of 17 June 1829 read “A valuable newly erected mansion of handsome elevation most delightfully situate at Robin Hood Hill, Kingston, Surrey; and seventeen acres of land; commanding views of great extent. The house is planned for the accommodation of a large family with offices of every description…” Wakeford noted that while Baxter outran his resources, his vision must have stimulated the Earls Spencer to develop their land on the opposite side of the road. Here, a parallel might be drawn with Thomas Pooley of Surbiton.4 PAST OCCUPANTS Wakeford stated that Robert Lawes Esquire, of Wimbledon Common, in 1829, acquired the house and land at public auction for £4,060.5 Robert Lawes also lived at No. 2 Hyde Park Place, and that during his occupation of Kingston Hill Place it was called “Kingston Hall”. He married Elizabeth Bull in 1822 and had two sons, Robert Bartholomew, born in 1824, and William Ernest, born in 1825.6 Robert Lawes died on 24 April 1858 leaving effects of about £50,000.7 It was unclear exactly how Robert Lawes accumulated his wealth. On 25 June 1824, a Robert Lawes was made a Freeman of the City of London as a member of the Painter Stainers’ Company.8 His inclusion in a list of merchants, bankers, traders and others in a declaration in the Times of 29 March 1853, together with one “R. B. Lawes”, presumed to be Robert Bartholomew Lawes, his son [below], indicated that the Lawes had financial interests in the City of London. William Ernest Lawes, died, aged 23, in 1848 and Robert Lawes died in 1858.9 They were buried in the Lawes family vault in St Andrew’s churchyard, Ham.10 In 1861, Robert Bartholomew Lawes, a “landed proprietor” in the Census, was living at Kingston Hill Place with his family and six servants. His mother, Elizabeth Gilham Lawes, died there in 1870.11 Between 1866 and 1873, various plots of land from the original estate were let on 99-year building leases and houses were built on either side of the mansion.12 Various digitised records enabled the identification of other past occupants of Kingston Hill Place.13 The Times, on 11 August 1871, advertised Kingston Hill Place to let. Probably, it was taken by Robert Leonard Trollope shortly 3 afterwards. The house is given as his address in the 1878 Surrey Post Office Directory and in the Surrey Electoral Register for 1887. He and other members of the Trollope family lived there from time to time. They also had residences in London and were engaged in the speculative development of Mayfair. Later, they became part of the Trollope & Colls construction empire, and once managed the Grosvenor Estates.14 Between 1888 and 1891, Kingston Hill Place was let to John Horace Saville, Viscount Pollington. Later, he became the 5th Earl of Mexborough.15 Around 1894, the mansion was let to Henry John Jourdain, a colonial administrator who was to become a bank director with a knighthood.16 Between 1903 and 1908, Kingston Hill Place was let to George Simon Arthur Watson-Taylor, an eccentric man who once locked his wife out of the estate before she obtained a divorce on the grounds of desertion.17 During these lettings, the owner Robert Bartholomew Lawes, a major in the Militia, Justice of the Peace and Deputy Lieutenant of Kent, lived at Old Park, Dover, and died there in 1907.18 In 1916, the mansion was let to Major General Henry John Fielden Brocklehurst, first Baron Ranksborough, a Boer War general, sometime Equerry to Queen Victoria, Lord Lieutenant of Rutland and Commanding Officer of the Royal Horse Guards.19 In 1919, it was let for a short term to Andrew Bonar Law, a Cabinet minister during the WW1 period, and in 1922 the UK’s Prime Minister.20 The 14th Earl of Dalhousie, a Scottish peer, whose family seat was Brechin Castle, occupied the property in 1920.21 In 1922 Kingston Hill Place was purchased by Sir James Carmichael, a civil engineer, with a distinguished military background, one-time Crown Agent and philanthropist.22 After his death, his wife, Lady Winifred Carmichael, lived in the mansion until around 1934.23 Then, around 1935, it was sold to Albert Thomas Shead, a rich insurance broker and Lloyd’s underwriter who was living in the property in 1941.24 In 1943 Kingston Hill Place was used by the British Red Cross & St John Joint War Committee as a convalescent home for members of the women’s services.25 Thereafter, Mr. Shead probably sold the mansion to Surrey County Council. In 4 1946, it was handed over to Gypsy Hill Training College, which became part of Kingston Polytechnic, which later became Kingston University.26 In 1991, Croudace Special Developments converted the mansion into apartments, installed an ornamental lake and built 44 houses in the grounds.27 The advertisement in the Times of 17 June 1829, cited above, noted that the estate was “…eight miles from town, being an easy one hour’s drive…” The research on the earlier occupants indicated that it was probably this attribute that attracted them because it suited a lifestyle that required a large, grand secluded property with easy access to London, where they had business interests and other accommodation. THE OBELISK: RESEARCH When first inspected in the spring of 2015 this very fine structure, approximately 6.5 m [21 ft.] high, in a grove of rhododendrons on the edge of the A308 road cutting, comprised two large unpolished but smoothed large granite sections.

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